Part 3, Project 2, Exercise: Painting with prepared elements

Bridge at Tatton

Close Up - Bridge at  Tatton

Close Up - Bridge at Tatton

Close Up - Bridge at Tatton

Close Up - Bridge at Tatton

Learning Log Notes:-

• Have I kept the spontaneity of the drawing, or created a new image based on the first drawing? No I really don't think I have - and this is an issue I am struggling with at the moment. When working on my one painting a day last month I really felt that by looking at the same subject matter over and over I was able to explore different viewpoints, methods and approaches. I now feel restricted by the course material, to try to accurately recreate a landscape image I am not sure if this is actually the case in the course material but my own interpretation. I would really appreciate some advice about how to progress this struggle?

• I think the things I learned in my preparatory sketches and drawings were that things are never as they first seem! I really did enjoy the practice of looking ant and exploring different elements before attempting a "final" painting, and as I look back at my learning log for previous assignments I can see that this seems to be the way I work! I think the quicker less drawn out painting and sketches have more energy and life, and if I am honest I think this is probably a feature I want to keep rather than loose.
• I found that the drawings gave me a style and approach to apply to specific features contained within the whole painting, for example the pagoda to the right in the foreground I felt was far better represented in my final painting as a result of my experimentations on my sketchbook of tone and form.
• I cant really decide if my final composition is successful or not, I am happier with it when I view it as a photograph, I have no idea why. I think choosing yet another painting including water was perhaps not the right decision, however I am happy with the way I was able to mix the greens and eventually I think I almost got the dark shadows and reflections under the bridge correct! I was tempted to work into the final painting with pen and ink, to try to give more energy, however I chickened out - not wanting to spoil it!
• I think that the colour mixing was one of the elements which I put to good use following the mixing greens exercises, and mixing the greens using the colour charts seems to have come to me fairly naturally (phew - there is so much of this course where i feel I have to force myself along!) Having said that I wonder if i could have perhaps created a greater range of greens, though I was being careful not to muddy the colours too much.
• There were clear tonal distinctions in this arrangements, and I was careful to lay these tones onto the page early on - the vibrant yellow/green of the trees in the distance, the clear icy blue of the sky reflected in the lake and the dark earthy greens of the pines and rhodedendran borders.
• As I look again at my painting I think the steps to the left of the bridge could have been omitted, these create a distraction from the overall composition I feel and Perhaps were a sign of me feeling I have to paint exactly what I see, I think I am just waiting for someone to say "its ok, paint what you want to paint". I feel that the inclusion of the bamboo and the pagoda to the front left and right was appropriate as it added to the Japanese ambience of the scene and I think these were complimentary to the rest of the composition.
• I think the key learnings have been that I do not have to include everything I see, I can perhaps crop out detail and items which I dont feel will add to the composion, although I do think the major learning point has been that preliminary sketching definitely works for me, even if it is just for my own peace of mind.
• I think the exercise of listing what I notice in the scene and listing them in the order I notices them was a very worthwhile suggestion. It helped to crystallise my thinking, I had originally thought about painting just a section of the bridge and the landscape surrounding that, however the exercise in considering elements taught me that it was the bridge that had drawn me to that landscape in the first instance, with its pleasing and restful elipse shape and therefore I should include it in its entirety. I think it would be a useful exercise for me to perhaps revisit this painting with a more limited view, just to see how half of the bridge could perhaps change the dynamic of the overall landscape view.